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Logistics & Supply Chain vocabulary · Transport Modes

Road freight

Meaning in logistics & supply chain, with examples

nounCore term

In logistics & supply chain, road freight means: The transport of goods by trucks and trailers on roads, used for domestic deliveries and for international routes over land.

In Turkish: karayolu taşımacılığı, karayolu yük taşımacılığı, kara nakliyesi

How it is used

Flexible and door to door, so it is the main mode for most domestic and European trade. Road freight is sold as FTL (full truckload) or LTL/groupage. British speakers also say 'road haulage' and 'haulier'; Americans say 'trucking' and 'trucking company'.

Example sentences

  1. For deliveries to Romania, road freight is cheaper than air and much faster than sea.

  2. Road freight prices usually rise when fuel costs go up.

Common collocations

  • international road freight
  • road freight rates
  • road haulage
  • road freight operator
  • FTLShort for full truckload: a road shipment that uses a whole truck or trailer for one customer's goods and goes directly from pickup to delivery.
  • LTLShort for less than truckload: a road shipment too small to fill a truck, so it travels with other customers' goods and is priced by space or weight.
  • CMRThe standard consignment note for international road transport, named after the 1956 Geneva convention (CMR) that sets the rules and the carrier's liability.
  • carrierA company that physically transports goods, such as a trucking company, a shipping line, an airline or a rail operator.
  • intermodal transportMoving goods in the same container or trailer by two or more modes of transport, such as rail and truck, without handling the goods themselves when the mode changes.

More terms: Transport Modes

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